Bankruptcy Among Malaysian Millennials: Due to Lavish Lifestyles or Low Financial Literacy as Evidenced by PISA Examination Results?

Youth bankruptcy in Malaysia was not a phenomenon in the 1970s to the 1990s. However, this issue began to be a concern in 2018. Using the PISA examination results in Mathematics as an indication, we discovered that millennials born in 1994/ 1995, and aged between 28 and 29 years in 2023 participated in the 2009 PISA or Programme for International Student Assessment while those who participated in in PISA 2012 were born in 1997/1998 and aged between 26 and 27 in 2023. Malaysian students aged 15 years performed below the average in this examination compared to their ASEAN counterparts. The impact of lower financial literacy among 15-year-olds and adults in Malaysia translated into high bankruptcy cases involving the millennial generation from 2018 until 2022. Malaysia never reached the OECD average score even a single time from 2009 until 2012. Data from the Department of Insolvency Malaysia shows that millennial bankruptcy cases decreased from 2018 until 2022. Indeed, this is a sign that youth nowadays have become more aware and prudent with their financial spending. Still, there is a need for some intervention from the government and other related parties to prevent this issue from getting worse in the future.